all was golden when the day met the night
by birdbox
Summary: You're a planner, you always have been. This provides the strongest possible anecdotal evidence you can think of for the 'opposites attract' theory because you've never met anyone less organised and more averse to planning than Jake Peralta. Jake x Amy-established relationship


established Jake/Amy fluffy fluffy fluff fluff. You may develop tooth decay. Also an experiment in second person POV writing-be gentle!

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><p><strong>all was golden when the day met the night<strong>

You're a planner, you always have been.

You'd written a will by the age of twelve, on pink spiral bound notebook paper when the only things you had to bequeath were your CDs and the money in the piggy bank under your bed. Morbid maybe but hey, random death happened every day and you just knew Felipe would take your NSync CDs given half a chance and you weren't about to let that happen lying down, even in death.

By the time you were seventeen you'd created your first five year plan complete with high school, college and police academy graduation (all of which came to pass because of dedication, hard work and of course, _planning._)

When you wrote that toast for Captain Holt at his first Thanksgiving at the Nine-Nine, you didn't just _write _it. You planned, you redrafted the plan twice, you wrote a draft and redrafted that a dozen or so times before you were even moderately happy with it.

All of this provides the strongest possible anecdotal evidence you can think of for the 'opposites attract' theory because you've never met anyone less organised and more averse to planning than Jake Peralta. And this is your exact thought as you watch him dash around your kitchen first thing in the morning, piece of toast stuffed haphazardly in his mouth. He stayed over last night and about three minutes ago, he realized he had a lot less time than he thought he did to finish both eating and relaying the picaresque epic of his and Rosa's amazing solve and arrest last week in order to get to work- hence the rushing. It's your day off so you're sitting at your breakfast bar with a cup of coffee and a contented smile.

Jake is an engaging story teller but this morning, you're only half listening; sometimes you prefer to just watch him in his element—wild gestures and exaggerated expressions and wide smiles on that wide mouth of his.

You're a planner and this extends into your relationships too so you can make sure nothing comes out of left field. And definitely, the decision to say 'I love you' for the first time should always be carefully thought out, pre-prepared and timed to perfection—not too early in the relationship but not leaving them hanging when they say it first. It's important to get it right; honestly, you don't even like the risk of being the first one to say it. Feeling it is one thing but saying it out loud? It's a commitment in and of itself and has to be treated like one.

At least, that's your usual philosophy. Maybe Jake's rubbing off on you.

"So I dive over the most enormous pyramid of boxes you've ever seen -and it turns out they have thousands of tennis balls inside them so of course they go _everywhere_- grab the perp by his ankles while he's still running and then Rosa almost trips on the tennis balls running over to cuff him…" Jake tells you, walking backwards toward your door, stuffing his arms into his jacket as he goes.

And that's when you say it. Inelegantly and completely without pre-thought or planning.

"I love you," you blurt out.

"…Then uniform come in and they all do trip and-" He stops. His head turns to one side as he regards you. "Say again," he says, a very different smile creeping up his face.

"You heard," you accuse, blushing, even if you're not entirely sure he did.

"Oh, I know. I just wanted to hear you say it again," Jake says, grinning properly, eyes dancing. He's walking back to you slowly now, work apparently forgotten for the time being. Maybe you should have done this when Captain Holt wasn't expecting him at work in twenty minutes but then again… it's not like you planned it, is it?

"I love you, idiot," you say a tad more confidently because he's blatantly daring you and you wouldn't be you if you didn't respond to challenges, especially from Jake Peralta.

"That's some flagrant rule-breaking, Santiago, I'm disappointed in you," he says. Your face must convey your confusion because he grins wider and elaborates. "Our first date. I did tell you."

_You're not allowed to fall in love with me, _you remember and you roll your eyes. In fairness, he had a problem keeping that rule long before you did.

"But, lucky for you, I'm ready to let it slide," he continues rounding the breakfast bar so he can get close to you.

"How generous of you," you say. Only Jake could respond to you saying you loved him for the first time by turning it into a joke—you'd be annoyed if it was anyone else but with Jake, you're so used to him reacting to emotion in this way it's almost an endearing character trait of his.

He steps close to the bar stool you're perching on and his hands find the sides of your face, tipping your head up gently so you're looking him in the eyes. "Yep, and do you know why?" You say nothing, but his gaze makes something catch in your stomach. "Because I love you too, Santiago."

Jake leans down to kiss you and you think this couldn't have gone better if you'd planned it.


End file.
